PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, approved a large number of development and educational programs.
The KP provincial cabinet provides a supplementary funding of PKR 3,825 million to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Safe Cities Project, originally started in Peshawar as its first phase, has now been widened to cover Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, and four other districts along with Peshawar.
Officials stated that around 80% of some project targets and over 50% of others have been completed already in the Safe Cities Project which will be a great support in the development of security and urban safety systems throughout the province.
The cabinet additionally provided a grant of PKR 25 million for the Pakistan Population Summit 2025 and approved the purchase of vehicles for the Peshawar High Court and District & Session Judges.
The Good Governance Roadmap has allocated PKR 207 million for the three-year-long Ehsaas Education Internship Program, which will annually admit 850 talented youths in various internship areas that facilitate learning in that field.
The cabinet has additionally sanctioned the renewal of 1,144 school leaders’ contracts for three years as part of the efforts to make school leadership more robust.
Such programs will not only improve the quality of education but also provide the youth with hands-on experience, thus laying a strong foundation for educational and civic development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Information and Public Relations, Shafi Jan, briefed the media on key cabinet decisions. He said the cabinet approved the establishment of Takaful companies in the province under Islamic principles. Under this approval, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa General Takaful Company and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Family Takaful Company will be established. The cabinet also approved the allocation of Rs 2 billion for the General Takaful Company and Rs 3 billion for the Family Takaful Company. He said that since the establishment of the Bank of Khyber in 1990, this was the first time a new institution of this nature was being set up in the province. He explained that the General Takaful Company would cover health and other risk-related matters, while the Family Takaful Company would provide financial support to families in the event of the death of the family head.
The cabinet, he said, also approved a supplementary grant of Rs 3,825 million for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Safe Cities Project. The project was launched in its first phase in Peshawar, while the second phase includes D.I.Khan, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Waziristan, among other districts. Shafi Jan said significant progress had been made on the Peshawar Safe City project, with 80 percent of work completed on some targets and over 50 percent on others. Work on Safe City projects in other cities is also underway. Due to an expansion in the scope of work, an additional grant was required, which was approved by the cabinet.
He further said that recommendations of the cabinet committee regarding the merger of the posts of Risaldar and Dafadar in the former FATA were presented, under which nomenclature approval was granted for 16 remaining posts. Subject to fulfilment of rules and regulations, these posts will be merged into the police.
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